Even in the midst of our busy days we may often find ourselves in Limbo Land. Not even the drama of being caught between a rock and hard place, just simply in limbo, where life may feel flat and boring. We often accept this with resignation – we are doing what we’re supposed to do, it’s going as well as expected – who could ask for more? And what would “more” look like anyway??? And in truth, there are times in life when boring tasks necessarily rule the day and all we’ve got energy for is repetition of the same. Long term, there is more to life than that and when dissatisfaction begins whispering inside of us, it may be time to take a look at what’s going on.
We have a wonderful exercise for opening your imagination and allowing a new vision of possibilities to emerge – beginning on page 25 of our book, “Imaging forward: Imagine that!” This exercise is meant to be fun as well as profound – no pressure to put the results in action immediately! And that’s important because, as responsible adults we often feel that if we let our imagination run wild it will truly lead us astray. Not so! One of the tenets of Art Therapy is that we all know more than we have language for. So allowing yourself to become immersed in imagery, you may find old thoughts resurfacing, or new ideas you hadn’t thought or considered before. Allow your imagination to lead the way. – knowing you don’t have to do anything with what emerges accept allow it to be. Its meaning will unfold over time. This project, more often than not, creates a future goal and path, not an immediate crisis which upends your life. The timing of implementation is totally up to you!
As always in our book, reflection is the key. So after you have allowed your imagination to soar and your hands to create, place your storyboard where you can view it several times a day. You may be surprised by the ongoing dialogue you find yourself involved in as you consider the how’s, why’s, where’s and when’s involved in following your imagination. There is something reaffirming and comforting about discovering how rich our inner life is despite of the ho hum of Limbo Land.
“The world is too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but love.” William Sloane Coffin
So get real- how do you want to be spending your time???
Ask yourself –
How bored am I? (You can be busy and bored at the same time!)
Am I willing to play and not censor my imagination in discovering unfollowed or even unknown interests and desires?
How surprised am I by what emerges?
SO, we are going to practice what we preach! We are fast approaching summer months with lots of imaginings (for us personally) of some time to paint, welcoming out of town guests coming for long overdue visits, travel, and time to work on our new book!! Yes, we’ve imagined a new book that will be very different from our last two…this one is filled with humor, crazy funny situations and “easy to relate to” characters. And a bit of spice to add extra interest… and even we are surprised by what is emerging from the between the pages !!
With that in mind, look for our blogs every other week during the summer, still on Tuesday, and still full of inspiration. And maybe a snippet of two of pages from our new book….
Hoping the summer months give you time to stretch your imagination, and time to explore and welcome new insights! Join us in escaping Limbo Land. Patty & Suzanne